Dave grew up on a small farm in northeastern Nebraska. He was the oldest in a family of four boys. The days were filled with milking 3-5 cows by hand, bottle feeding baby calves, and raising pigs to growing corn, soybeans, and alfalfa. School was in walking distance as they attended a local country school.
Following high school, Dave worked both on the family farm as well as for a local company setting up grain bins. After a year he rented out farm ground and began raising his own livestock. During this time he wanted to pursue something outside of the farm life and enrolled in college. While there Dave played on the football team and learned how to fly airplanes. After a year in college he moved on to work for an irrigation company in central Nebraska where he installed irrigation wells and pivots. He did some farming on the side for the owner of this company. It was here that he met Devonne.